Hey guys, I apologize that this took so long, but 2023 has been kinda crazy. I pretty much started the year by getting Corona for the very first time, 'that was fun'. It took me three months to get over that crap. That was three months, where I did not write at all; I just rolled out of bed in the morning, ate a dry piece of toast, then went back to sleep on my couch. Well, at least, I got to watch all seven Police Academy movies again, always like those they are silly, so I got something out of it.
Following that, when I was finally well again, I had another We Never Learn/Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai story called The Queen of Thin Ice - Epilogue, I wanted to finish. That also took quite a bit of time.
Anyway, I hope you guys are all doing well, and that you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 96
"Impossible, what is she doing in Orb?"
To say that Gilbert Durandal was totally outraged and shocked by this turn of events was a major understatement. That girl, that dumb little bitch, the real Lacus Clyne, or Yamato, or whatever last name that bothersome girl used now, after marrying Kira Yamato, was not supposed to interfere like this; she was supposed to be out in space, hiding away on the Eternal, until his forces could find the pink ship and destroy it for good.
It was still such a thorn in the Chairman's side that Akuto Tsuwabuki, even after he had personally given the violent man the second Chaos gundam he had ordered built after the first one had been stolen, Akuto, had still failed to carry out his mission and destroy the Eternal, but at least the brawny moron had the common courtesy to get himself shot down and killed in the process.
Still mentally cursing Tsuwabuki for his failure and hoping so deeply that the man would rot in hell for all eternity, Gilbert listened intensely to each and every word the real Lacus said. "I am well aware that there is a person out there with the same face, voice, and name as mine working for Chairman Durandal. However, I am the real daughter of Siegel Clyne. I was the one who joined forces with the Archangel in the last war and fought together, with that ship. Even now, I am on board that ship, with the ones I care about, like the Representative Athha of Orb. The 'Lacus' you have been seeing before you these last few months, is a fake she and I are two different people, and I want to make it clear that our beliefs are also quite a bit different".
"But, but, I..." Meer said, trying desperately to cut in, not that she had any luck doing that; the feeble girl was obviously still in shock over what was happening. Even with all this time she had spent pretending to be Lacus Clyne, she was still not able to stand toe to toe with the real Lacus; she was miles away from having the same sort of strength the real one had.
'Hmm, what a shame. I guess that means your usefulness is approaching its end, Campbell. I was frankly hoping to get a bit more use out of you, considering the large amount of cash I spend on getting your appearance altered. But, no point crying over spilled milk' the frowning Chairman mentally told himself as he continued listening to what Lacus was telling the world.
"I support neither Chairman Durandal's words nor his actions" the real Lacus confidently stated for the entire world to hear. Which led to the now trembling Meer to look timidly down at the piece of paper in her hands, like it would have some sort of answer to help her get through this ordeal. Finding none, she looked back up at the camera. Once again, making a feeble attempt to interrupt. But the real, much more composed and confident Lacus, simply kept on talking calmly over whatever it was, Meer was trying to say.
"Ahhh damn it! Campbell, you stupid, worthless girl! If you do not keep your trap shut, you are only making things worse" Gilbert growled under his breath as he reached out, pressing a button on the intercom, loudly ordering the person on the other end of the line to cut off their own broadcast.
The individual was clearly quite shocked to receive that order, as he stuttered out a quick reply. "B-But, Chairman sir, we-we are live! Won't it look pretty bad if we suddenly stop now?" The man asked.
"Are you kidding!? How could it possibly look any worse than it already does? And if Campbell continues standing there stuttering like a mindless idiot, she could SO very easily slip up and reveal something important in an attempt to get a word in edgewise, so cut her off already! If you don't get it, we're playing right into their hands like this!" The Chairman hissed angrily into the intercom, wondering how in the world this moron even got a job to begin with.
Finally, the idiot seemed to understand that spending vital time quarreling with him about ending Meer's broadcast, was a good way to get fired. The man hurriedly stuttered out a reply.
"Ye-yes sir!" The man hastily said, obviously saluting on the other end of the line, before the conversation ended.
'Where do we even dig up people like him and Meer Campbell? Once this world is recreated the way it needs to be! Stupid, worthless people like them would be doing the jobs they should rightfully have been doing in the first place' Gilbert thought as he stood up and went over to his desk to find the bottle of scotch he had hidden away there. He seriously needed a good stiff drink right about now, not that he could get totally hammered, like he kinda wanted he needed a somewhat clear head to deal with the aftermath of this, and as he glared loathsomely at the large screen and listened intensely to each and every word, the real Lacus Clyne said, he saw Meer finally disappear from the screen, which frankly did not help overly much on his already foul mood.
"Those who fight are not at fault. Those who do not fight are not at fault, either. The fault for all of this lies solely with the ones who manipulate us to fight Logos, the wicked merchants of death. That is what Chairman Durandal, and Meer Campbell, the fake Lacus Clyne, have been telling us all for months on end, since this awful war broke out. But I, for one, am not convinced that what the Chairman is telling us is really the whole truth. What has he not been telling us?" Lacus said, completely calm and composed, then stopped for the briefest of seconds, to allow her words time to sink in before continuing.
"Naturals, nor Coordinators are at fault. The only ones at fault are simply Djibril and his people, Logos, but is that truly all there is to it? That is the reason why I am now standing here in front of you all to ask the world to please not fall into the trap, created and set by their words, 'that you are not at fault!' And please, before I am misunderstood, know that I am not here to defend Mr. Djibril. I simply do not trust Chairman Durandal. We must gain a deeper understanding of Chairman Gilbert Durandal's true objectives with this war before it's too late!" Lacus told the world. Then, after wishing the world the best, she disappeared from the screen, having said everything she wanted, and having ruined who knew how much work.
"Damn it. Two assassination attempts. I incited two assassination attempts on this girl. How many more assassins do I need to send after her before she dies? How can it be so damn difficult to kill an eighteen-year-old girl? Hmm, it's... it's Kira Yamato, he is the one at fault; if he had not been there to protect her, she would be dead by now. And Yamato should not have been there to save her the second time, he was supposed to have died when Shinn destroyed the Freedom gundam" Gilbert growled angrily under his breath, glancing over at the white queen and king on his chest board. Both of them should have been knocked over by now, but they were still standing firmly in place.
Yet as the pissed-off politician took a long sip of his expensive scotch, Gilbert, for the briefest of moments, imagined that he saw a certain mask-wearing man smirking mischievously at him. He could so, SO very easily imagine just how many witty remarks and sarcastic comments, Rau had to make about this sort of development. Knowing his good old friend, he was absolutely certain that he would have found all of this highly amusing and funny as hell, Gilbert did in no way share that sentiment.
Shaking his head a bit to get the images to disappear, Gilbert took another sip of the liquor, frowning a bit at the taste. It tasted quite a bit more bitter than usual. "Hmm, a third attempt, should I incite a third attempt? It would be quite difficult to get to her as long as she is on the Archangel, but on the other hand, she can't stay on that ship forever" he said to himself, only briefly considering the warning Nicol had given him yesterday, about Kira targeting Talia if he sent any more assassins after Lacus.
Gilbert, quite frankly, did not take those threats overly serious, it did not really fit with what he knew about Kira's pacifistic personality to target someone who could not defend themselves. But he guessed that everyone had a breaking point, and Lacus' death might very well be Kira's. But still, if anything happened to Talia as a result of that, it was a sacrifice Gilbert, was with some reluctance willing to make. He would at least show his longtime lover, the common courtesy and look after her son William for her, it was the least he could do. Besides, judging from how short Talia had been with him yesterday, when she had given him her report about the battle at Orb, she was pretty pissed at him for everything that was happening. The man was relatively certain that once this war was brought to an end, his and Talia's relationship would be at an end too, this time for good. A shame, really, but there was no changing what needed to be done; these were necessary steps to change the world, the way he envisaged it. If Talia, his lover, stubbornly refused to understand that, it was probably best that they split up.
The ZAFT leader was just about to take another sip of his scotch when a loud knock on the door interrupted his nagging thoughts, and a familiar voice called out to him, loudly telling him that they needed to discuss what had just happened.
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Presently on the Minerva, the dumbfounded Talia just sat there in her room staring off into space as the words this other Lacus had said echoed loudly through her mind again and again, especially the last part.
'I simply do not trust Chairman Durandal... I simply do not trust Chairman Durandal... Ahh, damn it all. Trying to make sense of this is giving me such a major headache. If the Lacus Clyne, who was with Miss Cagalli, truly are the real one, who in the world is the one that has been working alongside Gilbert, all of these months?. Gilbert, just... just what were you trying to accomplish by having a fake Lacus Clyne running around? You have to have realized that if anybody found out about it, it would put ZAFT in such a bad light... I simply do not trust Chairman Durandal'.
Talia realized that it was going to take a very long time before those words would disappear from her mind. She just couldn't fathom what her longtime lover, was trying to do, was he TRULY trying to create a better world for them all? A world where Naturals and Coordinators, would not have to fight each other, a world where they could all live in peace, together. She was not so sure, she fully believed that anymore, but Talia felt that she had no other choice but to believe it; otherwise, all those terrible sacrifices they had made would have been in vain.
"Heine... Meyrin... Athrun... I'm so-sooo sorry" the woman mumbled, burying her sorrowful face in both of her hands, crying long, loudly, and painfully into them as Miss Lacus' words, again rang through her messed-up mind.
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At the exact same time, elsewhere on the Minerva. Rey was looking at the screen with a barely visible but still angry frown on his face. This was not how things were supposed to happen, their Lacus Clyne was supposed to butter up the entire world with her sweet words, making everybody eager to find Djibril, and annihilate the rest of Logos. Yet this, this other Lacus Clyne had ruined that completely. The Legend pilot wondered how much damage the female Yamato had caused with this stunt.
'Damn it, Gilbert, why did you not get rid of that girl? You knew that she was bound to interfere in our plans like this at some point. You should have sent more than just a single unit of soldiers and ASSH type mobile suits to assassinate that girl. If you had done that, maybe they could have gotten rid of Kira too' Rey mentally told his father figure, even though he of course realized why Gilbert had not sent any more soldiers to Orb was to keep their action mostly concealed, if it gotten out that ZAFT sent out assassins, it would have been so much more difficult to persuade the rest of the world to fight by their side.
Letting out a deep breath, Rey turned his head, glancing over at Shinn, to see his reaction to all of this. The Destiny pilot had a totally bewildered expression on his face; it was obvious, that he was giving what had just happened a great deal of thought, but was having his fair share of trouble making sense of it all.
"Not all Logos' fault? Th-that's absolutely ridiculous!? What the hell does that even mean? If thi-this new Lacus, is the real one, who the heck was the one hugging and smasking me around when I was given the Destiny gundam? Damn, this is making my head hurt" the red-eyed boy mumbled under his breath, barely loud enough for Rey to hear him.
Feeling a fair amount of frustration, Rey slowly ran his hand through his blond hair, then down over his face. "Hmm, it would be unwise to leave him to think about this too long; I better find some way to distract him for a bit; besides, I do have a few important things I need to discuss with him and Nicol".
With that in mind, Rey reached over and poked Shinn's shoulder until he finally got his attention. "Come, let's go, Shinn" he simply said.
Blinking rapidly a couple of times, Shinn tilted his head a bit to the side in obvious confusion. "Go? Go where?".
"Some place, where we can talk in peace, there is no way we could do that here" Rey said in a sharp tone of voice, gesturing around to all the other crew members currently gathered in the mess hall, especially Yolan and Vino were shouting back and forth about which Lacus was the real one, and which was the fake. That was, apparently, something the two longtime friends had a very difficult time agreeing on, not that Rey nor Shinn paid much attention to their squabbling as they made their way towards the exit of the noisy mess hall.
Yet, as the two of them hastily approached the exit, they spotted their two fellow pilots standing there. Lunamaria's face was ghostly white; she was obviously quite shocked, by this turn of events. She seemed about to say something to them, but changed her mind at the last second; instead, she just glanced a few times between them without saying a word. Simply choosing to ignore her for now, Rey looked at the Adamant pilot. Nicol had a completely unreadable expression on his face, which made it impossible to figure out what he was presently thinking about. However, the severely hard bite he gave his lower lips, made it abundantly clear to the Legend pilot just how unbelievable, frustrated, and annoyed the green-haired man felt over all of this.
Finally, Nicol tore his brown gaze away from the floor, looking straight at Rey, nodding slowly a single time as he pushed himself away from the wall he had been leaning against all of this time. Reaching down, Nicol took a hold on Lunamaria's hand, which seemed to somewhat snap her out of the faraway daze she had found herself in since their Lacus was interrupted by the real one, but the Impulse pilot was still somewhat lost in her own thoughts, as Nicol led her out of the mess hall.
Lunamaria of course knew full well, from when she had spied on Athrun and Nicol's meeting with Miss Cagalli, the pilot of that awesome-looking blue Murasame, and the Freedom pilot, who the real Lacus truly was. She remembered the pissed-off pilot of the Freedom, asking about whom this other Lacus Clyne, working alongside ZAFT was and why a group of Coordinators, had tried to assassinate the real Lacus. The young redhead briefly considered if she should share that information with her fellow pilots, but after a short seconds, Luna begrudgingly realized that Nicol of course already knew the truth, which meant that Rey likely knew too, and knowing how pigheaded Shinn was these days, he likely wouldn't care all that much in the end. So the Impulse pilot reluctantly decided to keep her trap shut. Maybe she could speak with Nicol about it later, when the two of them were alone, if he would even be willing to listen to her.
It was then it happened, as Lunamaria walked there beside her handsome boyfriend, that she heard the Freedom pilot's serious but surprisingly kind voice speaking to her again. '...are you sure that is what you really want, Lunamaria? I could bring you to the Archangel; your younger sister is there, along with Athrun. I am certain that each one of them would be delighted to see you... Ahhh, God damn it all, he sounded so nice, even though I tried to take out this-this new Justice gundam... I-I wonder how trustworthy the Freedom pilot truly is...? Um I... Meyrin, I miss you so-so much...' Lunamaria thought, glancing over at Shinn and Rey, she knew how unbelievable much those two hated whoever was inside the Freedom gundam, so she quickly decided, to keep her thoughts about him seeming nicer than them, to herself.
That, along with so many other conflicting thoughts, kept on running rampage through Lunamaria's mind; she was simply incapable of making sense of them all. She was so distracted that when Shinn suddenly called out to Rey, it came as quite a surprise to her; she barely managed to keep a small girly shout from leaving her mouth. Thankfully, none of the others seemed to notice.
"Umm, Rey? Of the two Lacus Clynes, which one do you think is the real one?" The Destiny pilot hesitantly asked, clearly struggling to make just a little sense of what had just happened, and what this new Lacus Clyne had told the world.
Rapidly turning, Rey looked straight at the red eyed boy. "Please try not to let the sudden appearance of another Lacus, distract you, Shinn. Who is who of them two of them, does not matter one bit. All you and the rest of us need to focus on is following the Chairman's words and orders. That is, truly, the only way to make this world better".
Rubbing his chin a bit, Shinn put a lot of thought into what Rey had just told him. Finally, after about a minute, he nodded slowly a single time. "I guess you are right, Rey, so what now? What do we do now? I do kinda hope the Chairman will send us and the rest of our forces back to fight and destroy Orb. You know, guys, I have been thinking, there is a chance that Djibril was not even on that fleeing shuttle. That whole thing might very well have been a ruse to get us to retreat" Shinn said, doing little to hide that his main reason for saying this, was because he still had a score to settle with all of Orb, Athrun, the Freedom, and Yami pilots.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Shinn, but it is highly unlikely that Djibril is still in Orb. From what I have seen of that man, he is way too cowardly to stay put in a war zone when he has the chance to run away and hide somewhere esle. He did, after all, leave a lot of his most vital supporters behind in Iceland when Heaven's Base was about to fall" Nicol said in a thoughtful tone of voice.
Yet as the three men were talking about that, Lunamaria had disappeared back into her own thoughts. 'Mmm, that was a pretty vague response if I ever heard one, Rey; you did not really tell Shinn anything about who was the real, Lacus Clyne! You just casually change the subject, yet I wonder if I told Shinn what I knew, what his reaction would be' the female pilot thought with a deep scowl as she slowly followed her boyfriend and the two other men into the pilot ready room, which was the perfect place for them to have their little meeting; it was so unlikely that anybody would disturb them in there.
Immediately upon entering the room, Lunamaria dropped down onto the nearest couch with a deep, heavy sigh, watching quietly as her boyfriend slowly stepped over to one of the vending machines in there. Getting himself a huge cup of coffee, adding just a tiny bit of milk. "Nicol, if you don't mind, could you please get me a can of orange soda? I could really use that, right about now" the girl requested quietly.
Glancing briefly back at her, Nicol nodded slightly a single time. "I hate to break it to you, Luna, but this machine seems to have run out of orange sodas. Can you use a cola instead?" He softly asked.
Feeling kinda disappoint over the lack of her favorite soda, but figuring that it was not worth the effort to make a huge fuss over. The pilot of the Impulse answered yes with a deep sigh, wondering briefly who the heck had drank all the orange sodas in the machine in there, she thought she was the only one who liked those, except Yolan, but why the heck would he go through the trouble, of heading all the way to the pilot ready room for a can of orange soda, when the vending machines down in the hangar, was likewise filled with those things, so it had to be somebody else who took them from machine in there.
Wondering a bit what Lunamaria could be brooding so intensely over, as he handed her the can of cola, Nicol dropped down on the couch right beside her, taking a huge mouthful of his steamy hot coffee, frowning a bit at the taste, it needed just a bit more sugar, but he did not feel like getting up to get some of that. And as Shinn sat down too, with his own drink in hand, each one of them quietly watched Rey, as he rapidly typed away on his small laptop.
"So what is this about Rey? It has better be important, I would rather go train in the simulator, or spend a bit of time at the firing range, or go see how the repairs are proceeding with the Destiny" Shinn growled in a low tone of voice, his mind briefly flashing back to how that stupid son of a bitch in the Yami had cut off the Destiny's leg. He seriously despised that invisible trick that mobile suit had going with its weaponry, how the hell did Orb even come up with a crazy idea like that, not to mention the beam diffracting armor on the Akatsuki, that entire country, really were full of nothing but nutcases, the sooner they got rid of it the better.
Glancing up from his work and over at Shinn, with narrowed eyes. "Oh, trust me Shinn, this is important. We need to discuss how we deal with the Archangel, the Freedom, the Yami, the Akatsuki and last but definitely not least, Athrun Zala's new Justice gundam. The next time we encounter those four mobile suits and that ship, we have to know for sure, who of us is best suited to fight who. We simply can not end up in a situation where I face off against the Akatsuki again, the Legend just wouldn't work against that mobile suit, even though I have to admit that I kinda want to try and capture it, so we can study the technology in that gundam" Rey said, wondering how the Akatsuki's golden armor had been made, so it could diffract all those beams back at its opponent.
Barely able to keep herself from sighing out loud and rolling her eyes a single time, Lunamaria leaned even further back into the soft leather couch. Why was she not surprised, of course this was what Rey wanted to talk about, not about how any of them were presently doing, or the fake Lacus Clyne situation, it was always about the next upcoming battle with him. Yet as much as the annoyed, frustrated pilot of the Impulse gundam, would rather talk about anything else, right now. Apparently neither Shinn nor Nicol shared her sentiment, as her boyfriend let out a low, thoughtful humming sound.
"Hmm the Akatsuki, considering how that machine function and what it can do, I think either Shinn in the Destiny or Lunamaria with the Sword Silhouette pack equipped would be the best once to take him on, but even so you guys still need to be careful when fighting him, Mu La Flaga, is an exceptionally good pilot, that has always been extremely good at thinking swiftly on his feet in the midst of battle" Nicol said, musingly rubbing his chin as he tried to figure out if he had any more useful information that could be vital to beat The Hawk of Endymion.
"Mu La Flaga, you say?" Rey asked, looking at the Adamant pilot with a dark hateful look in his blue eyes, his mind flashing back to that very day two years ago, when he had seen Rau thoroughly studying a few images of an orange mobile armor, that was facing off against three GINNs and a CGUE, all on its own, it had taken out one of the GINNs by destroying its head, followed by the rest of the mobile suit. When he had asked Rau about it, he had simply smiled a bit wickedly at him, while softly telling him, that it was a distant relative of theirs, that it was imperative, that they put an end to, as painfully as possible.
Feeling quite a bit bewildered over the obvious hatred, Rey felt towards Mu La Flaga, Nicol slowly tilted his head a bit to the side. "Hmm, Rey I could be imagining things, but you seem to carry quite the grudge against La Flaga, mind telling us what that is about? How do you even know, the guy?" The green haired man calmly asked, wondering what in the world Mu could have done, to piss off Rey to such a degree.
Still somewhat preoccupied with the many different thoughts, presently racing through his mind, Rey recalled how the Moebius Zero or whatever that weird mobile armor was actually called, had taken out the second GINN, which it had done be crashing one of the gunbarrels straight into it, but even though that had left him with only three gunbarrels, the pilot had still easily been able to disarm and destroy the last GINN. Following that, the white CGUE and the orange mobile armor had fought for quite some time, until a single Laurasia-class had showed up to reinforce the CGUE, and as it started launching even more GINNs, the mobile armor had finally turned tail, and ran off.
"Mhm, I would say know him might be a strong word Nicol, let's just say I know of him, and off his well-earned reputation, I understand that he is not a man that should be underestimated. But like we agreed, I will leave his defeat, to either Shinn or Lunamaria. Now then, moving on, the new Freedom gundam, do any of you have any ideas about how to deal with that one?" The pilot of the Legend asked, a bit taken back by the fact that Lunamaria was the one who answered first, before Shinn or Nicol had a chance to do so.
"If-if I try using the same crazy tactic, Shinn used to take out the original Freedom, do you guys think I could take out this new one?" The redhead asked, even though deep inside, Luna wasn't really all that keen on going up against this more advance version of the Freedom.
Glancing over at her, Rey ever so slowly shook his head. "I do appreciate your enthusiasm Lunamaria, but taking into consideration how swiftly Kira Yamato, wiped the floor with you during your previous encounter in Orb, and that he broke off one of the wings on the Core Splendor, when he had wrecked the Impulse. I have my doubts, that strategy is going to work against him again. Also, from what I have seen, you lack the skills to pull it off, successfully, Lunamaria. So you can just leave the Freedom to either me, Shinn or Nicol" he somewhat harshly told the girl, before he once again turned his attention back towards the Adamant and Destiny pilots, curious to hear what they had to say.
Scowling bitterly at those harsh words, Lunamaria tightly squeezed both of her fists together, digging her nails into her skin, so hard that it kinda hurt a bit, not that she cared, it took everything she got not to start yelling and screaming at the Legend pilot, as her mind once more drifted back to how the Freedom pilot. One of their enemies, had just sounded so much kinder, and so much more respectful, when he had spoken to her, during their brief skirmish, in Orb, than Rey had ever done. She wondered if Rey ever really cared about her, and anybody else for that matter. Truth was, all he truly seemed to care about, was beating whatever Freedom gundam was out there, and doing what the Chairman said.
"Efm, lack the skills, lack skills. Well if that is truly what you think Rey Za Burrel, then screw you!" Lunamaria mumbled, in a whisper under her breath, choosing simply to ignore, the astounded look she received from Nicol at those words. If he had anything to say to her about it, she would be more than willing to bicker nonstop with him about it later, when they were alone. Maybe, it really was about high time, they had their very first argument as a couple, not that the girl, was in any way looking forward to that event. But if Nicol was going to speak up, and defend Rey in this case, when he had just insult her, she would be more than happy, to tell the idiot to piss off, and go sleep in his old room.
Wondering just what, in the world, could have crawled up Lunamaria's butt and died so gruesomely. Yet in the end, after giving it a fair amount of thought, Nicol reached the conclusion, that she was likely still feeling quite a bit pissed and bitter, over the beating, she had received from Kira, during their last encounter, and probably even more so now, that she was denied, the opportunity to at least try, to get even with the purple eyed man. But Rey was absolutely right in this case, while it was certainly true, that Lunamaria's piloting skills, had improved in leaps and bounds, because of the many battles she had been involved in, since this war broke out, so many months ago. She was still far from a match against Kira, the Freedom pilot could so very easily kill her, if he wanted to do so.
'Hmm, if anything happens to the real Lacus, we have to make sure to be close by, to stop him. Otherwise, there is no telling, how much damage he would inflict on us. He might actually go through with killing Captain Gladys, like he told me he would do, during the last battle' the young green haired man told himself, fulling realizing, that if Kira were to cease holding back, he was going to be a real nightmare to deal with, especially in this new Freedom. Yet as Nicol's thoughts wandered back to how Kira had fought, when he had first started piloting the old Strike gundam, he shivered just a bit. Kira, along with his wife Lacus, were most definitely the biggest threats, to them winning this war.
However, before Nicol could give much more thought to how imperative it was, that they got rid of the two Yamatos. He was immediately pulled out of his deep nagging thoughts by the sound of Rey's calm voice. "So moving on, do any of you have any ideas about how to deal with Athrun, and that new Justice gundam, of his?".
Immediately, Shinn chimed in pretty loudly. "Athrun is mine, GUYS! I go such a major score to settle with that traitor, especially after I failed to kill him both when we last fought in Orb, and when he ran off with that GOUF at Gibraltar. BY the way guys, I would also very much like to be the one, to tear apart that black Mirage Colloid equipped mobile suit, that saved his sorry ass at Gibraltar!" The red eyed man proclaimed through an angry hiss, wondering how the hell it was even possible, that they did not even know the name, of that black gundam, he had asked Rey, and even the Chairman about it, on a few occasions, but for some inexplicable reason, ZAFT had very limited information about that mobile suit, other than, that it likely belonged to somebody in Orb, which was just another reason why, Shinn felt they should double their efforts to find that damn thing and put an end to it for good.
"While I do agree with you Shinn, that we need to keep that black Mirage Colloid equipped gundam in mind, it's definitely the sort of threat that we have to take serious, and be prepared, to face off against again. The facts remain, that we have no idea about when we are going to encounter that gundam again, so for now, I suggest that we put the matter of that thing on the back burner, and focus our attention, on coming up with a plan to destroy the new Justice gundam and kill Athrun Zala" Rey said in a cold tone of voice.
Instantly, Lunamaria felt an intense freezing cold shiver run through her body, from the cold callous way, Rey talked about killing Athrun, one, of their former comrades. One, all of them there, had been fighting side by side with, for such a long, long time. One, that was always respectful and kind, to the people he spoke with. One, she had been having quite the crush on, until she had found herself falling in-love with, Nicol. The girl could still remember, that one time, Athrun had let her take a peek inside the Saviour, and let her sit in the powerful red mobile suit, that had been such an awesome experience. Truth was, while Luna did like the Impulse and all the different Silhouette packs. They grant her machine, so much versatility, there was a part of her, that honestly thought that Athrun's old Saviour, was just a bit cooler, by how it had been able to transform into a fighter jet, and fly so incredibly fast. It really was a damn shame, that the guy in the Freedom had wrecked the Saviour to such a degree, that it was impossible for their mechanics, or anybody else, to repair it again. The girl wondered what had happened to all the parts of the Saviour, as far as she knew, they had been taken off the Minerva, when they had arrived at Gibraltar, so likely they were still there, or had by now been transferred back to the PLANTs, probably Armory One. Perhaps some of the parts could be used to build a new even more powerful Saviour, maybe a Saviour Advanced or Extreme.
Yet all thoughts Lunamaria had of the Saviour, was something she in one instant forced from her mind, when Nicol in a low composed tone, began talking about how they should deal with Athrun. "Hmm, considering how many blade weapons this new Justice evidently has, I would suggest that we fight it from a distant, so that leaves either you in the Legend Rey, me in the Adamant, or Lunamaria using the Blast Silhouette pack. Ugh, quit glaring at me already, Shinn, it's not like we are running out of dangerous opponents to fight" the green haired man said, of course noticing the sore look on the Destiny pilot's face, from being excluded from this list to take out Athrun.
"I guess you got a point Nicol, but know this! IF I get a chance, I am SO taking that bastard out for good. His betrayal, is something I can NEVER forgive, or forget, before he is dead and gone" Shinn growled, wondering how the heck, he had EVER been able to respect Athrun Zala, in the first place, especially after those times, the blue haired bastard, had smacked him around, like after the battle in the Indian Ocean, where they had lost the Vosgulov-class Nyiragongo, or that time, after he had destroyed the original Freedom gundam. It truly was quite the wonder, that he had not grown to despise Athrun Zala with every fiber of his being, before now.
Just the mere thought, of being hit by that treacherous creep, was almost enough to make the seething Shinn go into seed mode. Yet before he had a chance to actually do so, Rey's calm ever so rational voice, called out to him, interrupting his dark brooding thoughts.
"Of course, there are none of us here, who are going to discourage you from tearing apart Athrun, if you are, at some point, grant the opportunity to do so, Shinn. But it does not hurt to be mindful here, and come up with the best strategy to deal with our 'old friend'. Who knows we might need you to keep the Freedom distract, while the rest of us put an end to Athrun Zala, once and for all" Rey said, still sounding so unbelievable cold when he spoke about killing a person, that had once been their friend.
"Hmfm, I see your point, Rey. I guess, the most important thing, is to get rid of those four enemy gundams, along with the Archangel. So next, the Yami? Who, of us, are going to get the pleasure, of blasting that damn thing out of the sky?. With the massive amount of damage, that crazy son of a bitch, inflicted on the Destiny, when we fought back in Orb, plus the Minerva, when he sent that Guul, crashing into us. I can not deny, that I am pretty keen on tearing the wings and head off that mobile suit, then beat the crap out of the guy inside it" Shinn said, smirking wickedly from imagining all the different ways, he wanted to get even with the Yami pilot.
"Then you are in luck Shinn, when one considers, the Yami's crazy high speed and maneuverability, I, for one, do believe, that the Destiny would be just perfect to beat that mobile suit, and if not you, then Lunamaria using the Force Silhouette pack" Rey thoughtfully stated, knowing that even though the Yami pilot, was the one opponent he cared least about putting a permanent end to, it was still imperative, that they got rid of that individual, hopefully they could somehow seize what remained of the black gundam afterward, so their scientists could do a thorough study, of the technology inside it.
It was at that very moment, Shinn gleefully called out to them all, thereby interrupting Rey's thoughts, about the Yami. "Great! So we are in agreement here, guys! We know who each of us is fighting, the next time we run into them. By the way guys, now that we are here, I kinda want to ask you if any of you were surprise to discover that Athha girl was pregnant, I almost drop my jaw straight through the floor when I first saw her on the screen. Do you think Athrun is the father?" He asked them all, wondering how the heck that blue haired idiot, could have such bad taste in women, that he could fall for somebody like Cagalli Yula Athha.
Nicol, thinking back to what Athrun had said to him, at Gibraltar, shortly before that other spy had showed up, to knock him out with that trash can lid, his head still ached a bit, when he thought about how much that had hurt. 'Nicol! Would you have anything against it, if Cagalli and I were to name our child after, Mayura? I know that I speak for the both of us, when I say, that it would be a real honor to call her by that name, if it does turn out to be a girl'. At that point, the green haired man had firmly believed, that the talk about Cagalli being pregnant, had been nothing but a lie, that Athrun had come up with in the heat of the moment, to get him to lower his gun.
'Mayura, I wonder would you like a child named after you? Hm, knowing you, Mayura Labbatt, you would probably be overly thrilled about, even if they choose not to name it after you, and went with either Asagi or Juri instead, you would still be happy about it, and so would the other Astray girls. Ahh damn, even I am feeling sort of happy for them, now... No-no stop it Nicol Amalfi, you idiot, you can not afford, to have such positive feelings, interfere with your chosen path!' Nicol mentally scolded himself in his mind, even though it was impossible for him, not to imagine just a bit, what Cagalli and Athrun's kid, would look like, would it have blond hair, or blue, or would it be a mix of the two, which he found the thought of, to be kinda cute.
"Hm, yes I admit, that came as a bit of a surprise to me too. Not that it truly matters all that much if this Cagalli girl is pregnant, or not" Rey stated in a calm none caring tone of voice. Wondering for a brief moment, if Cagalli Yula Athha's pregnancy, was the reason why the Archangel had suddenly stopped using the Duel Rouge gundam, they had used the red mobile suit in the begging, when they had first interfered in a battle, then suddenly stopped using for some reason, its pilot being pregnant could very well be why.
"Not MATTER!? It matters a lot, Rey! That's just another reason why we need to hurry the hell up and kill that bitch Cagalli, to prevent even more of the Athha demon spawn from being born into this worl...".
The Destiny pilot did not get a chance to finish that loud sentence. "Yeah, that's it; I am done here. Unless any of you guys actually have something important to tell me, otherwise, I am heading up to the deck to get some fresh air" Lunamaria said, not giving a rat's ass if it was in any way rude of her to cut off Shinn's outright insane babbling.
Honestly, quite taken aback by the sudden interruption. "Wow, there, Luna, I was right in the middle of saying something, here!" Shinn hastily called out after his fellow pilot, just as she was about to leave the room.
Turning slowly back around, the older Hawke sister looked straight into Shinn's narrowed eyes. "Ohh, I got that, Shinn Asuka. You know, I have pretty much grown use to you yammering on nonstop about wanting to kill the Freedom pilot, Djibril, and even Athrun. But listening to you speak so callously about wanting to kill a little baby, an infant child, just makes me sick. You are a sick, deeply disturbed person, Shinn. Seriously, get help, you crazy crackpot. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go throw up somewhere" the girl said, then hastily left the pilot-ready room before the deeply pissed-off Shinn, had a chance to come up with a reply.
Shinn was just about ready to jump up and race off after Lunamaria to demand an apology from her for speaking to him like that, yet instead of actually doing that, he just slammed both of his fists down into the table. "Damn that stupid girl! Who the HELL does she think she is, criticizing me like that!" Shinn growled out through his teeth.
At the exact instant, Shinn finished that sentence, he received a severely hard smack at the back of his head. "That's my girlfriend; you are cursing out like that, Shinn Asuka, I will not permit you to say such things about her while I am nearby. As for what you said about killing Athrun's and Cagalli's child, if you try to harm that kid while I am nearby, I will surely fight you with all my might to protect it. Now, I better go see how Luna is doing" Nicol coldly told the Destiny pilot.
Then without saying another word, and while choosing to simply ignore the overall hostile glare, Shinn was sending him. The young green haired man slowly turned away, then went off after his distraught girlfriend. Yet even as Nicol's steps echoed over the metal floor, he was completely lost in his own thoughts. He understood, perfectly well, what was required of him, to do in regard to his old comrades, on board the Archangel. They were all, the enemy now!.
But even so, if Athrun and Cagalli, were to wind up dead, when the time came, for ZAFT to change this lousy, god-awful world, for the better. Nicol, at that precise moment, made the mental promise to the upcoming parents and himself, that he would take in their child, and raise it as his own. The young green haired man figured, that was the least he could do for his old friends, he did NOT want their child, to grow up without parents.
With those two 'dumb, mean jerks', now gone. Shinn, simply sat there on the couch, staring intensely at the slightly dirty floor, sulking sourly over what they had said to him, most of all because now that he was giving it some thought, he realized that they were absolutely right; what he had been saying just now had been so, so God damn messed up and creepy that it was no big wonder they had scolded him the way they had.
"Ohh man, oh man, those two might really be experts in making a person feel guilty, how to make one feel like a total asshole. But I guess they might be right, it's not like it's that Athha kid can be blamed, for what carzy idiotic parents, it's going to end up with. Heh, I actually feel sort of sorry, for that little devil kid of theirs" Shinn growled bitterly under his breath. Understanding perfectly, that he was still fully prepared and more than willing to kill the kid's folks. But, seeing the others reaction, the red eyed boy, decided to leave the child alone, it was not like it was to blame, for all of the idiotic crap and bullshit, it's moronic mother and father, had done. Besides, he seriously did not want to make enemies, of Lunamaria and Nicol, even though the three of them did not always get along, they were still some of his dearest friends.
It was then that Rey's usually calm voice interrupted his nagging thoughts. "I do sort of agree with the two of them that he deserves to feel at least a little guilty, Shinn. Even I found your words, just now, to be a bit disturbing. I understand your deep hatred for Orb, Shinn, and know that I agree with you about it being imperative that it's wiped out, as soon as possible. But talks about hurting children is not something many are comfortable with, so you should keep such dark thoughts to yourselves. Especially when you are around, Lunamaria and Nicol" the Legend pilot said, hoping that this was the correct thing to say to Shinn under the circumstances. They simply could not afford to have Shinn start feeling guilty over his actions now and thereby hesitate when in battle, that truly would be a complete and utter waste, of his unique valuable piloting skills, and the awesome power, possessed by the Destiny gundam.
Yet, judging from Shinn's loathe filled expression, Rey's words seemed to have had the intended effect on the boy. All thoughts of not wanting to harm children had completely vanished from the Destiny pilot's mind; he was now, again, totally fixated on his hatred towards Orb, and his outright crazy desire to get revenge on that country, for the death of his entire family. Which truly was perfect; Shinn was undeniably a lot more useful to their cause when he was feeling angry and hateful, than when he was feeling sad and guilty. So, while forcing away the small smirk on his dry lips, Rey again started talking to his friend and roommate.
"Since there ain't much else to talk about, at least for now, why don't you head on down to the hangar Shinn and see how the repairs are proceeding with the Destiny? Afterward, I think you should go to our room and get some rest. Maybe you could spend some time, reading one of your comic books or play on your handheld gaming device. It's been awhile, since I have seen you; do that" the blond haired man suggested in a compassionate tone of voice, that he knew from past experience, that Shinn would listen to.
Seriously, considering that suggestion for a few brief moments, Shinn finally nodded slowly a single time. "Emm yeah, just lying around being lazy sounds more than perfect, right about now. But I think I'll hit the shooting range first, Rey. I seriously need to blow off some steam. And blasting a half-dozen holes through a target while imagining that it's the Freedom pilot, or Athrun, or that moron in the Yami. Hell, who knows, I might even settle for that bastard in the green Murasame" Shinn said with a grin, then tiredly pushed himself up from the couch, walking with slow steps in the direction of the door.
Once Shinn disappeared from his line of sight, Rey let out a small amused chuckle. "Heh, heh! More and more issues seems to be popping up every single day. I do wonder how long Shinn can keep going like this, without reaching his breaking point? Not that it really matters, as long as he stays useful" the blond man said to himself in a whisper, reaching up he ran his hand over his eyes, briefly imagining himself wearing that certain white mask, he had hidden away in his room. Yet even as he was doing that, he pulled out a bottle of pills, from his coat pocket, knowing that he would need a few of those, before he continued working.
000000
At the exact same time at Gibraltar, Meer Campbell was locked in her room, laying on her huge bed with her face buried in her pillow, sobbing loudly as even more painful tears left her aching blue eyes. The pink-haired woman could not believe how fast everything had gotten messed up. That-that other Lacus... that fake Lacus, had completely ruined everything for her. How could she do that?. Her all-important singing career! Would she still be famous and celebrated as a star after this? Would people all around the world still pay attention to her?Or did this-this mean that she would NEVER be able to get on stage again and just sing, so everybody would stare at her in wonder, praise her for doing a good job, and have who knows how many people ask for her autograph.
No-NO! That had to happen, she wanted to keep being famous, no matter what. She would NOT, under any circumstances, allow that 'fake Lacus' to ruin everything for her; she was Lacus Clyne now! She was the important one!. Meer at that moment, reached the conclusion that she had to come up with some way to make absolutely certain that the other Lacus could never again interfere, in her musical career. Bu-but how was she supposed to do that?. It was not like she could just pick up her phone, and call the other Lacus to ask her to cease with what she was doing, and just let her sing and be famous.
Perhaps she could try going to Orb, and then... then what? She sort of doubted that she would even be allowed into the country. Just the thought of people not wanting her around made even more tears leave her eyes. So, with another deep sob leaving her, she considered going back home. But that thought had barely entered Meer's mind, when she saw her mother's shocked expression there before her.
'Mee... Meer, swwweeetheart! Why in the world would you do something like this?! You-you getting plastic surgery like this to change your entire appearance; it's crazy! It's downright insane! How?! How, in God's name, could you do something like thiiis?!" Her mother had screamed at her the first time she had seen her like this.
'I want to be Lacus!' Meer had immediately screamed.
'Sweetie, I understand your deep fiction with Lacus Clyne, but even if you look like her, you can never be Lacu...'.
It was at that point, Meer had loudly cut her off. 'No, I am, Lacus Clyne! I am, the new LACUS CLYYYYNE! GO AWAAAY!'.
Following those hurtful words. All her mother had done was simply stand there, staring at her with tears in her brown eyes. 'I-I see'. With that said, the woman who had raised her, had simply turned around and left. That was the last time Meer had seen her, and they had not spoken since. The only other contact the pink-haired girl had, had with her family since then was when her father had called her up, to tell her that he was so disappointed with her. Meer had immediately blocked his phone number after that, so he could not talk her out of being Lacus Clyne. Yet, having cut all ties with her entire family in SUCH a cruel way, meant that going back home was not an option either.
"Mo-mother, I'm so-so sorry..." she cried into the pillow, just as she heard Athrun's intense voice next, warned her, as the two of them were about to go their separate ways here at Gibraltar.
'Will you please, PLEASE wake up, and smell the coffee already! I realize that running around pretending to be Lacus is a dream came true for you! But eventually the Chairman will have no further need for a fake Lacus! And when that time comes, he wouldn't hesitate to have you killed Meer! So you most come with me!'
Those were the exact words, Athrun Zala had said to her just before he ran off. Back then, she had not believed them; she had NOT WANTED to believe them. The Chairman was a nice, caring person. But now that the other Lacus, had told everybody in the world that she was the real Lacus Clyne, Meer could not help but fear that Athrun might actually be right. Were they reaching the point where the Chairman had no further use for her, and if that happened, what was going to happen to her next? Was she going to be hidden away, somewhere far away, where nobody could see her, admire her, or listen to her sing... Or was-was, she truly going to end up getting killed, just like Athrun had said... Perhaps she made the wrong choice back then; maybe she really should have left ZAFT along with him. If she had, maybe she would not feel this intense fear of losing her life now. Meer did not want to DIE! She wanted to try to make up with her dear mother and father.
Then, just as another deeply intense sob ran through Meer's body, there was a hard knock on the wooden door to her room and a familiar voice calling loudly out to her. Normally that person's voice was one she took a bit of comfort in and liked listening to, since it belonged to her long-time bodyguard. The very person, the Chairman himself, had assigned to protect her, from all the dangerous in this world.
Now, however, the mere sound of Sarah's voice, kinda frightened her; it made the pink-haired woman feel so very much like, she was nothing but a small, ill-behaved child who had misbehaved and was about to get severely scolded, by one of her angry, displeased parents. Meer was even tempted to try to ignore the highly impatient Sarah calling out to her like that. But evidently that idea was not going to work, since it took less than a minute before the blonde-haired woman called out to her again.
"Miss Lacus! If you have fallen asleep in there! Then hurry up and wake up! The Chairman says that it's imperative that he speak with you!" The woman yelled at the door.
Sobbing loudly a couple more times, Meer slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position. "I'll-I'll be right there... Pleas-please give me a minute, Sarah..." she hoarsely called back, thoroughly rubbing both of her aching blue eyes, hoping that would be enough to remove all evidence of how much she had been crying. Yet one glance at herself in the mirror, made it abundantly clear to the young woman, that a minute was not going to be nearly enough. Her makeup was a complete mess, and her eyes were more bloodshot than she could ever remember seeing them before.
"Ohhh God, I'm such a mess..." Meer mumbled to herself in a low, quiet whisper. Seriously despising seeing herself looking so pathetic, but she guessed that was just another one of those things she could blame the other... the fake Lacus for. Quickly getting up from her bed, Meer rushed into the bathroom, where she immediately turned on the water, splashing some of the liquid up into her face. It did help a bit. But for an observant person like the Chairman, the girl had no doubt that he would still easily be able to tell, that she had been bawling her eyes out in there for a good long while.
Staring intensely into her red swollen eyes, for a few long seconds. Meer mentally cursed the fact that she did not have the necessary time to redo her makeup. That would at least help a bit to hide the deep sadness and despair she felt over this turn of events, with the other Lacus. Yet Sarah, again pounding even more loudly on the door, told her how little time she had, that she did NOT have time to dilly-dally in there. Forcing back the painful sob, that was threatening to leave her, Meer hastily made her way over to the door, mentally telling herself, to remain calm and not cry in front of the pissy blond woman.
Calmly, Meer opened the door, trying her best to smile at Sarah. "I am so sorry for the delay, Sarah; that took a bit longer than I had intente..." That was all she managed to get out before Sareh reached out and grasped tightly onto her wrist, dragging her almost forcefully along with her. Surprised by such rough treatment, but figuring that she deserved it for her failure, it took all Meer had not to cry out in pain and tell Sarah to please let go of her.
"Your excuses for being late do not matter, Miss Lacus! Just as long as we hurry, we do not want to keep the Chairman waiting any longer for us, than he already has!" Sarah harshly scolded her, roughly pulling the pink-haired girl around the nearest corner. Being forced to suddenly change direction like that almost resulted in Meer, tripping in her high-heeled shoes; she definitely twisted her left ankle a bit, but the songstress forced herself not to scream in pain and keep it all buried inside as she was dragged by Sarah to wherever the Chairman was.
Despite the bit of limping Meer was doing when walking, it did not take the two ladies much time to locate the ZAFT leader. He was at present standing by himself near an immensely large window, silently observing a space shuttle being prepped to leave, yet as the two of them approached the man, Gilbert immediately turned his attention towards them, smiling kindly, which did help Meer relax just a bit as she pulled her wrist free from Sarah's tight hold, stepping slowly towards the Chairman, staring with immense sadness at the floor, almost feeling like she was ready to start crying again.
"Emm, Mr. Chairman, Sir... I-I-I want to apologize for-for what happened during the broadcas...".
Reaching slowly over, Gilbert ever so gently patted Meer's shoulder in an almost fatherly manner. "It's fine, 'Lacus' I do of course understand that what happened was not your fault my dear, you are completely blameless in that other Lacus interfering, the way she did. Now I have a surprise for you, I feel like, until this fake Lacus Clyne have been dealt with, that you should go on a bit of a hiatus, you deserve it. I have already prepared a lovely place for you on Copernicus" the ZAFT leader informed the girl.
Swallowing loudly a single time. "Th-the moon? Do I really have to go there, Mr. Chairman, sir? I-I would rather stay here on Earth or go back to the PLANTs" Meer pleaded, as she, probably for the thousandth time in the last hour, heard Athrun's loud voice telling her, 'to head to Orb!'. If she stayed here on Earth, there was always a chance she could do that, or if she went back to the PLANTs, she could maybe try to seek out her parents. The moon, all of Copernicus, seemed so unbelievable insulated compared to the other two places. The pink-haired woman already knew that she was going to be so incredibly lonely there, and who knew how far away, from anybody, who might be willing to help her out.
While, of course, taking notice of how anxious and jumpy Meer appeared to be at the moment. Gilbert, while a bit curious about what exactly could be going through the girl's mind, he quickly decided that it was too much of a hassle to ask. Considering Meer's overall ignorance and denseness, the Chairman was relatively certain that it could not be all that important, so he simply decided to ignore her outright nervous behavior. And with that decision made, Gilbert smiled reassuringly at the fake Lacus.
"Yes, Lacus, I firmly believe that at present Copernicus would be the best place for you. You will be well protected there by Miss Sarah and some of our other good people. I am sure that you can have a lot of fun there; you can go shopping and spend some of your hard-earned money, you can swim in the mansion's pool, and simply relax. So go, Lacus, go enjoy your well-deserved vacation. It is my personal thanks to you, Lacus, for all of your hard work. You truly did save this world with your songs and words" Gilbert softly told the fidgety songstress, feeling the smirk on his lips, turn a bit more wicked, from seeing how frightened the pink haired girl truly was, but he quickly made sure to cover that up with his left hand, before Meer had a chance to discover it.
Realizing that refusing to go to the moon was simply not an option she had, Meer nodded reluctantly a few times. "Uhmm, ye-yes sir, I'll go to Copernicus...".
While a part of him, found it to be a bit of a let-down that the naive Meer did not put up more resistance to going to Copernicus, since it was so very obvious that the young woman did not want to go there, in the first place. 'Heeh, I see, so that's all the resistance you could muster; you truly were a bitter disappointment, to the very end, Meer Campbell. But at the very least, you were a whole lot easier to manipulate, than most other people. Just as long as you could run around pretending to be Lacus, then everything was fine with you' Gilbert thought, finding himself wondering a bit how the girl had even been able to gather together enough courage to go through with the operation, to make her look like Lacus Clyne. But maybe she truly had been that desperate to look and be like her most cherished idol. Not that it mattered now; she had served her purpose.
"Good, good; I'm glad to hear it, Lacus. You and Sarah are going to have the time of your lives on Copernicus" the Chairman said, reaching out, he grabbed the red-colored Haro that had been bouncing around beside the pink-haired girl this entire time, handing the small annoying robot to her. Meer took it without a word, then hastily stepped away from him. Clearly, she did not feel safe in his presence any longer, not that Gilbert cared all that much about what Meer Campbell thought of him now.
Watching Campbell mess and play around with the Haro, or Mr. Red, or whatever the hell she called that damn thing, Gilbert stepped over next to Sarah, where he immediately whispered a few words to her. "Since Meer has at this point outlived her usefulness, and it would cause quite a few problems to have her still be around. If you get the chance, Sarah, please do get rid of her, and if you could make it look like an accident, then that would be just perfect".
Glancing over at the pink-haired woman, Sarah wondered how she could best eliminate Meer without raising too much suspicion. Maybe the girl's injured foot could somehow be used to cause an unfortunate 'accident', in the not-so-distant future, like her tripping and getting run over by a car. For now, however, Sarah would just keep a close eye on Meer Campbell and wait patiently for the right opportunity. As a long-time professional assassin, this was most definitely going to be a whole lot easier than her last target, who had been a long-time member of Logos, Jennifer Azrael, who had supposedly been the mother of none other than Muruta Azrael, the former leader of Blue Cosmos.
The blonde crazy witch of a woman had died from a single bullet through the head, from a long-range sniper rifle, and while that in itself, had been easy enough. It was getting rid of the incriminating weapon and escaping from Paris afterward, without getting caught, by the immense number of Earth Alliance and Police force scouring the enormous city for her, that had been the real challenge. The rifle, Sarah had gotten rid of by hiding it in a golf bag, then melted it down at a metal factory she had been relatively close to, then thrown what remained into the large river Seine that through Paris. Following that, she had gotten out of the city by pretending to be blind, with a white cane and all, that had made it so not many people suspect her, of the gruesome murder, in broad daylight.
The one annoying challenge she had when it came to assassinating Meer Campbell was, the whole, make it look like some sort of accident. Sarah seriously loathed it, to the very core of her hit-woman being, when the Chairman made that demand of her, even though this time around, Sarah fully understood why it was necessary; it was either that or kill the Lacus wannabe without anybody noticing it.
"How much time do I have, sir?" She whispered back.
"That's a pretty good question, Sarah. As long as we can keep her out of the limelight, there is no major rush; you just go enjoy your vacation with her and wait for the right time. Ohh, and one more thing: if you happen to encounter the other Lacus Clyne, the real one, then get RID of her. I don't care how you do it, as long as it's done. If you accomplish that, Sarah, I'll pay you forty times more than what I usually pay you. And you can also expect quite the considerable bonus, if you manage to kill Kira Yamato, her husband too" Gilbert said, his pissed-off mind briefly flashing back to the images he had seen of the Freedom gundam, going up against Providence. There were times when he truly missed his mask-wearing, long-time friend, yet the black-haired man quickly shook those thoughts out of his mind as he once again focused his full attention on the assassin in front of him.
"Heh, you do know how much I love those bonuses. Mr. Chairman. I'll see what I can do about this Kira person, if you could just send me a picture of the husband, that would be a huge help" Sarah said, mentally drooling at the thought of the new sport car, she was going to buy for the large amount of money the ZAFT leader was going to own her, for eliminating these three targets.
Considering briefly if he should arrange for Sarah to get a mobile suit of her own, she was quite the skilled pilot. The new white Gaia gundam was almost complete up at the PLANTs, but since he wanted Meer's death to at least be somewhat discreet, Gilbert quickly shook that idea out of his head. "I'll e-mail you a picture of Kira Yamato later. Now, you better get going before 'Lacus' runs out of patience".
With that, Sarah understood that hers and the Chairman's conversation was now over, the female assassin had a clear understanding of the tasks in front of her. Pretend to be Campbell's bodyguard until she found just the right opportunity to strike, then hope that the real Lacus Clyne, and her spouse would at some point make an appearance; otherwise, she might very well seek them out to finish the job; a few well-placed explosives in their car or home would do wonders for their continued existence. Moving slowly over towards Meer, Sarah saw the pink-haired girl silently play with that red Haro of hers. Good God, Sarah hated that shitty little robot so damn much; it was always so noisy and irritating, she could not even remember how many times she had wanted to smash that thing, especially if it woke her up in the middle of the nap.
Reaching out, Sarah roughly took a hold on Campbell's thin wrist and was about to drag her off when something surprising happened. "Ahh, let go of me; I can walk by myself!" The fake songstress screamed into her face, almost acting like her very touch was toxic, which kinda pissed Sarah off; she was more or less ready to slap the shit out of the pink haired girl for the disrespect. How DARED that stupid little bitch, speak to her like that? But in the end, after a few tense seconds, Sarah roughly shove those immensely hostile feelings, to the very back of her mind, she would most definitely, get even with Meer Campbell later.
"Very well, then, Miss Lacus, please follow me" Sarah said with a hint of anger in her voice.
While Gilbert was, in truth, also quite a bit taken aback by Meer's sudden loud outburst, the politician was far more amused by it than anything else, especially when he took notice of Sarah's obvious anger. The female assassin, seemed more than willing to strangle the fake Lacus right then and there.
'Heh, heh, your uncanny ability to step on people's toes, Campbell, really is quite impressive. Guess, I wouldn't have to wait long until I get news of your death' the ZAFT leader thought with an amused smirk as he quietly watched the two ladies vanish from his line of sight. Afterward, he turned and looked back out of the window. Seeing the Minerva's bridge peeking out from behind a large hangar facility, the man wondered a bit if Talia might be up for spending a little private time with him, preferably in one of their beds.
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Immediately upon entering the space shuttle, Meer dropped down in the first row of seats, hoping that by doing that she could be as far away from Sarah as possible. Fortunately, her pissed-off bodyguard seemed to share her sentiments, as she quickly moved and placed her bag and laptop at the very front of the shuttle. Following that, the blond woman entered the cockpit.
Now all by herself, Meer reached down and pulled off her shoes, tenderly rubbing her aching left ankle. It hurt so damn much, if it had been under any other circumstance, she would have insisted pretty firmly on having a doctor examine her injured foot, but she understood that simply was not possible now.
Feeling a couple of lonely tears run down her face from the intense pain and everything else she was going through, Meer reached out and picked up her Haro. The only friend she had right now, opening the small robot up, she pressed a few buttons inside it until she found a certain recording she had stealthily taken not that long ago.
Taking a quick look around to make absolutely sure that she was still all alone in there, Meer pressed the final button, then listened intensely to the words the familiar voice was saying. "Since Meer has at this point outlived her usefulness, and it would cause quite a few problems to have her still be around. If you get the chance, Sarah, please do get rid of her, and if you could make it look like an accident, then that would be just perfect".
Rewinding the recording, Meer listened to it one more time as ever more sorrowful, grief-stricken tears ran down her face. 'The Chairman! He does not care about me at all; I am useless to him now! Athrun, I-I wish that I had gone with you at Gibraltar! I-I do not want to be here; I do not want to die...!' The girl thought, Meer wanted so desperately to run away, but she couldn't, not with the way her foot was now. If she tried to escape at this moment, she was absolutely certain that Sarah would not hesitate to gun her down, right there on the runway.
The thought of that made Meer cry even more, as she started rummaging through her purse for a couple of aspirins, hoping they would help lessen the pain at least a bit. Finding the medicine at the very bottom of her messy bag. Staring intensely at the small round plastic bottle for a few short seconds, Meer noticed that the pills were quite far out of date, but at present she really didn't care. Opening the bottle, she got out a couple of them, which she immediately swallowed with a long sip of water.
It was at that very instant that Sarah re-emerged from the cockpit. "Strap yourself in, Miss Lacus! We are taking off now" the blond woman loudly informed her.
Not bothering to give Sarah a response or even look in her general direction, Meer just absentmindedly did what she was told as she kept on staring silently out of the window at a couple of tiny birds flying by. She so... So, sincerely wished that she could obtain a couple of wings of her own, then join them and fly hundreds of miles away from all the mean people who wanted to hurt her, like the Chairman and Sarah. Two people who Meer just hours ago had always thought wanted what was best for her and this world. Now she was not so sure any longer.
Meer Campbell was still thinking about those things as the shuttle took off and started heading towards the bleak, lonely place, that was the moon.
To be continued.
Two things I wanted to do in this chapter, were show how distraught Meer was, over being exposed as a fraud and how dangerous a woman Sarah truly is. I figured that her having, at some point, assassinated Azrael's mother was a pretty good way of doing that.